Virgin Islands National Park Acquires Nanny Point on St. John

Want to stay updated to Life on St. John - subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Nanny Point, St. John - Google Maps Satellite ImageNanny Point

Nanny Point, located on St. John’s southeastern coast has recently been acquired by the Virgin Islands National Park Service. The 2.2-acre parcel, donated by Stanley Selengut, commands some outstanding views of Coral Bay and out towards the British Virgin islands. Mr. Selelengut, the owner of Maho Bay Camps and Estate Concordia, donated the land to the Trust for Public Lands, which then donated the Nanny Point headland to the V.I. National Park.

Nanny Point could easily have fallen into the hands of developers. The acquisition of the land by the National Park through the generosity of Mr. Selengut will ensure that Nanny Point will be available for the enjoyment and benefit of the public at large.

Thank you, Mr. Selengut!

Nanny Point, St. John US Virgin Islands (USVI)

Nanny Point

cactus covered headland

View of the British Virgin Islands

View of Ram Head Point

View of Salt Pond Bay

tide pool

View North from Nanny Point

Nanny Point also happens to be the habitat of a rare plant species, Solanum conocarpum, native only to the island of St. John.

Solanum Conocarpum

“Solanum conocarpum is a thornless, flowering shrub that may reach more than nine feet in height and is found in dry, deciduous forest on the island of St. John.

Initially, the plants lost their dry scrub thicket habitat in the intense deforestation for cotton and sugar cane cultivation on both islands. Now, the additional threats of residential and tourism-related development, grazing by feral goats and the practice of burning off vegetation.
There are only about 220 S. conocarpum plants left in the wild in two areas on St. John – 156 plants at Nanny Point on land recently donated to the Virgin Islands National Park and 60 plants on private land.

Funded by the National Park Service, a project to propagate and reintroduce S. conocarpum into areas within the park was begun in 2003. But the plants are threatened by park management practices such as trail and facility maintenance, in addition to the feral pigs, feral goats, Key deer, and donkeys. The plants on private land are at risk from residential and tourism development.”